A Love Like This
by xxXThePhoenixProjectXxx
Summary: "So I placed my heart under lock and key, To take some time, and take care of me, But I turn around and you're standing here" ― Debra Cox. Sometimes love is right in front of you and sometime you have to look a little harder before you find it, only to realize it's been there all along.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Arrow and all its amazing characters etc. do not belong to me, I am simply the puppet master who moves them in another direction. ;)**

**A/N: This story takes place shortly after the season 2 finale.**

**A Love Like This**

"_So I placed my heart under lock and key _  
_To take some time, and take care of me _  
_But I turn around and you're standing here" _  
_― Debra Cox _

**Chapter One**

The sun was shining brightly in Starling city as Felicity Smoak hurried down the crowded sidewalks toward Lou's diner, finally arriving she pulled open the door and entered, once inside she paused, looking around the crowded diner she finally found who she was looking for. Heading for a table near the back of the diner, she smiled at Detective Lance, whom was now standing, having spotted her from his perfect vantage point, his back to the wall and facing the entrance. "Morning Miss Smoak," Said Lance as he pulled out a chair for Felicity and making sure she was seated comfortably before sitting back down in his own chair. "Detective," said Felicity, smiling in greeting, "and I thought we had agreed, no more of this Miss Smoak, please, call me Felicity."

"If you insist...Felicity, and please, Quentin or even Lance"

"Okay so...Quentin, how's your week been ?" asked Felicity as she settled her purse on the empty seat next to her and accepted a menu from the waitress who had appeared as soon as she was seated.

Quentin smiled, he had first asked Felicity out to coffee about a week after Slade had taken over the city and then been dealt with. Having been a witness of how selfless and brave Felicity had been during the whole ordeal and how the arrow seemed to overlook how much Felicity did, not only for the arrow but for all of those around her, Quentin had been worried about how Felicity was coping with everything that had been and was going on. Coffee on Saturday morning had initially been about making sure that Felicity knew she had someone to talk to about what was going on both in her life and her work with the arrow but somewhere along the way they found that they enjoyed talking to each other and discovered that they had many things in common, and so they bonded and their talks soon turned to the latest book they had read or a movie they wanted to watch, and Coffee had turned into Saturday brunch and an occasional phone call during the week, just to see how the other was doing. Quentin enjoyed having someone who genuinely cared about how he was doing and how his latest case at work was coming along. of course his daughters always inquired about his work and health but it was just not the same, his daughters had their own lives to live and while he was proud of them both he had missed having someone in his life to just talk and spend time with. similarly Felicity, whose heart was broken by Oliver, who professed his love for her in one instant and then turned and said it was all an elaborate act in the next, was happy to have someone outside of the close-knit arrow family to talk to, and found herself looking forward to their Saturday mornings together.

"It was a long week, you remember the Dodson case I was telling you about earlier in the week?"  
"The guy who was kidnapping all those little kids?"

"Yeah, him, we finally caught him but not before he did some damage, it's the cases like those that just boggle the mind, I mean what drives people to do something like that."

Felicity's eyes watered a little before she pulled herself together, reaching across the table she gently placed her hand on Quentins arm, "I'm glad you caught him," she said softly before pulling her hand back to curl around her coffee mug.

Something else that Felicity had discovered while spending time with Quentin is that the babbling, that she had been cursed with her entire life, almost disappeared when she was around him, when they were together there were moments like now, when words were not needed, and they simply sat together in silence and then there were times when the word just poured out, usually after a particularly stressful day.

Quentin just smiled softly across the table to Felicity, before looking up at the waitress that had appeared at their table. "Are y'all ready to order?" she asked pulling out her order pad from her apron pocket and clicking her pen.

"Yes, we're ready." said Felicity, after looking at Quentin for confirmation and seeing his nod. "I'll have your Belgian waffles, extra cool whip and with a side of fruit please." she said handing the waitress her menu.

"And what about for you hun?" asked the waitress turning toward Quentin.

"I'll have the pancake breakfast plate."

"Do you want your eggs scrambled or over easy?"

"Scrambled."

"White or Wheat bread?"

"White." alright your order will be out shortly she said as she collected the last menu and headed back to the kitchen through the swinging doors.

"So how's you're week been?" asked Quentin settling back against his seat.

"Oh you know pretty much like the past few weeks, I've been on several interviews but no luck so far."

"Hey, don't look so sad," said Quentin, who always hated to see Felicity sad, "I know you are great at all that technical stuff you do I'm sure something will come up, you doing okay though? do you need anything?"

"Oh, no I'm good, I have my savings, should last until I'm able to find a job, too bad I can't put everything I do for the arrow on my résumé."

They shared a smile over that one.

"Yeah, that's a shame, although I'm sure half of that would land you in jail and not with a new job."

"True, guess I'll just keep looking."

"Oh look, here comes the food,"

"Awesome, I've been looking forward to these waffles all morning." said Felicity, with a smile on her face as the waitress placed the plate full of waffles and cool whip in front of her.

After that they dug into the food in front of them conversing quietly about their week and the plans they had for the following week. Standing up after polishing off their plates Quentin placed some bills on the table and they headed back into the crowded street.

"Care for walk through the park?" asked Quentin pointing to the park across the street and offering Felicity his arm."

"I'd love to." said Felicity, whom always disliked when their time together came to an end as it was so quickly prone to do. and so placing her arm in his they headed across the street and to the local park.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Arrow and all its amazing characters etc. do not belong to me, I am simply the puppet master who moves them in another direction. ;)**

**A/N: This story takes place shortly after the season 2 finale.**

**A Love Like This**

**Chapter Two**

`Later that same day found Felicity seated at her desk in team Arrows "new," to Felicity and Diggle, lair. Spinning around in her chair Felicity silently observed the other occupants of the room.

On one side of the room Oliver sat at a table working on sharpening arrowheads while on the other side of the room which contained weights, excercise machines and a rather large sparring area covered with mats was Diggle, lifting weights.

After looking around at all the boxes of equipment still needing to be unpacked Felicity turned back to working on setting up her computers with a sigh, these days everyone in the lair was pretty quiet, each focused on their own thoughts.

Felicity on her part was determined to move on from Oliver, sometimes she didn't know what was worse, having her heart broken yet again, or the fact that Oliver didn't even seem to notice how hurt she was, granted she had known the basics of the plan but the I love you from Oliver had been unexpected and certainly not been in those plans, and the way he seemed to just brush it off when they were on the island after dropping Slade off just made it all the worse.

That day she had decided to bury her feelings for Oliver and leave them behind on that island, she had walked off of the plane in Starling City with a new purpose, she was focused on moving on with her life and from Oliver and focusing more on herself, since she had started "helping" the Arrow she had slowly drifted away from her friends, never seeming to have any extra time to spend with them, now she was making sure to make the time to spend with her old friends and to make new ones, thinking of new friends caused a smile to appear on Felicity's face, becoming friends with Quentin Lance had certainly been unexpected.

Upon their return to Starling City the had received word that Lance was in the hospital, apparently being tossed around by Slade's super soldiers had caused some internal damage.

Felicity, concerned about him had headed straight to the hospital after hearing the news, when she had arrived he had still been recovering from surgery.

Using her tablet she had hacked into the hospitals record and led Oliver and Diggle, whom had accompanied her, to Lance's room.

After reassuring themselves that Lance would make it Oliver stepped out to speak with Laurel and Diggle had headed home to see Lyla.

Felicity, meanwhile had pulled up a chair next to the hospital bed where Lance laid, sleeping and settled in to wait for him to wake up.

He had awoken a few hours later, surprised, but not unhappy to see Felicity sitting next to the bed, they had spoken briefly before Felicity headed out, but not before promising to visit again.

And she did, the next few weeks while he was recovering she would often stop by after a long day of job hunting, before she headed to the, as she had dubbed it, lair, she kept him informed of the city's attempt to recover in the aftermath of Deathstroke's destruction and of the Arrow's efforts at keeping the City safe from the criminals that prowled the city in the wake of all the chaos.

She enjoyed spending time with him, just talking about everything and anything, and even after Lance was released from the hospital she would often stop by his apartment to drop off some form of dinner for him, as he was still on sick leave from work, though that didn't seem to stop him.

He could usually be found in the glades, helping with the clean up and rebuilding process and after they had begun their tradition of meeting for breakfasts on Saturday mornings, Felicity could oftentimes be found right next to him, helping in any way that she could.

Shaking her head slightly Felicity came out of her musing and returned to working on her computers, just sitting here thinking would not make the process of setting up her computers go any faster and as she had plans tonight, she did not have extra time to waste.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Arrow and all of It's amazing characters etc. do not belong to me, I'm simply the puppet master who moves them in another direction. ;)**

**A/N: This story takes place shortly after the season 2 finale.**

**A Love Like This**

**Chapter Three**

Finishing up at the lair Felicity said a quick goodbye to Oliver and Diggle, whom were now unpacking and setting up the last of the equipment they had managed to bring with them from the old lair.

"Alright boys, I'm out, see you guys tomorrow?"

"You're out of here early today," said Diggle, after a quick look at his watch. "Big plans tonight?" he asked.

"Not really, I'm just going to meet some friends, we're going out for drinks tonight."

"Oh, and what friends would these be?"

"Just some old friends from work Diggle, no need to worry." Said Felicity, smiling fondly at Diggle, whom would often slip into the role of big brother, "I'll be fine."

"Just be careful Felicity," said Oliver, from where he had been silently observing the conversation, while unpacking a box. "And remember, you can always call us if you need us." "I know, thanks, I'll see you both tomorrow." She said as she gathered her belongings and headed toward the door. "You guys don't work too hard."

"Bye Felicity."

"Bye"

Arriving at her townhouse on the outskirts of the Glades, Felicity hurried inside, making her way toward her bedroom she paused briefly in the kitchen to check the time on the clock above her stove. _7:15, _she murmured to herself, she had left the lair later than she had hoped to.

Allison, a former co-worker was coming by to pick her up at eight, she had to hurry if she was going to be ready on time.

purple silk dress that reached to just above her knees and had a metallic gold belt that accentuated her figure and pairing that with a gold cropped bolero wrap that was satiny smooth and had a ruffled collar with smocked trim all around the edge and a pair of strappy heels she placed her selected outfit on her bed and went to take a shower, putting her hair up in a bun so it wouldn't get wet she took a quick shower.

Not even fifteen minutes later she was out, taking another quick peek at the clock she worked on placing curlers in her hair before working on her makeup, as soon as she was done in the bathroom she retrieved her outfit from her bed and put it on, looking around she found a small clutch purse, that matched her outfit, sitting on her dresser, placing her wallet, cellphone and keys inside, she quickly finished getting ready as her phone buzzed with a text.

Pausing briefly to read the text she smiled before responding to Quentin who was wishing her luck on her first night back out with her old friends, and reminding her to call him if she needed a designated driver.

By the time she had finished getting ready and had an entire conversation via text message with Quentin it was nearly eight o'clock, realizing that her ride would be there at any minute, she rushed back into the bathroom and removed the curlers from her hair, trying to put her hair into some semblance of order.

Felicity had just finished fixing her hair when she heard a knock on the door, heading in that direction she paused briefly in front of the mirror that hung in the hallway to put her earrings on before she opened the front door.

"Felicity, hey girl." Said Allison, giving Felicity a brief hug.

"Hi, Allison," Said Felicity, returning the hug with a smile, "How are you? You look great by the way."

"In this old thing," said Allison with a wink to Felicity, "And don't you just look smashing tonight." She said as she stepped back to allow Felicity to exit the house and lock the door behind her. "and thank you." She said as they headed toward her car, a light blue ford focus, "So you ready for tonight?" she asked once they were inside the car and heading to their destination, "everyone is really excited to see you, they're all meeting us at the restaurant, I figured we could start with a light dinner and then maybe go hit a few clubs, what do you think?"

"Sounds good to me."

The night started out well enough, Felicity and Allison met up with the rest of the group at a small bistro style restaurant where they enjoyed a simple meal and some light conversation before they headed out to the first club on their list.

They were only at the second club on their list when Felicity, who was coming back from using the restroom, overheard her so-called friends talking about her and laughing as they made horrible insinuations about her relationship with Oliver, and her sudden switch from IT to the CEO's Assistant. Coming up behind the group, who were seated at a booth, she turned to Allison, who was seated on the edge.

"So is that really what you all think of me?" she asked, "That I'm just a pretty face who slept with her boss?"

Allison and everyone else seated at the booth just looked at each other awkwardly, completely willing to talk about someone when they weren't there, but not knowing what to say when confronted.

In that moment of silence Felicity thought of several different things she wanted to say to defend not only herself but also Oliver, but as she looked around the table at the people who had once been her friends she realized that sitting there and arguing would be pointless and moreover not worth her time.

Instead she just turned around and headed toward the nearest exit. Seeing this, Allison jumped out of the booth and hurried after Felicity.

"Hey, Felicity wait up."

Felicity paused near the exit and waited for Allison to catch up.

"Look Felicity, I'm sorry you had to hear all that but-"

"But what?" asked Felicity turning to face Allison, "It's not like I didn't know what people were saying about me at QC, but for people who claimed to be friends to act like that-"

"That's just it Felicity, this is the first time in months that you've come to hang out with your "friends" if we were really your friends you wouldn't have ditched us as soon as you and Queen became all buddy buddy, what, did you dump him when he lost his company and now you want to come and act like everything is going be like it used to."

"First off," said Felicity, placing one hand on her hip and using the other to emphasize her words, "You are way off base with your cracks about Oliver and I and second that is none of your business and this, this is so not worth it. I'm leaving, I'll see you around Allison." And with that Felicity turned and headed out the door leaving Allison spluttering in her wake.

Unfortunately, the nearest exit lead into a poorly lit alley.

Aside from one of the bouncers taking what appeared to be a smoke break the alley was empty.

Felicity quickly reached into her purse and pulled out her cellphone.

She scrolled down her list of contacts until she reached the Q's.

"Hello."

"Hey, Quentin, I know its kinda late but do you think you could give me a ride?"

"Felicity? Where are you? Are you okay?" asked Quentin, knowing that Felicity had been planning to spend the evening out with friends, his phone tucked in between his ear and shoulder as he got up from the couch where he had been laying, watching T.V., and picked up his keys, heading toward the door.

"I'm fine," said Felicity as she gave Quentin directions to where she was. "don't worry, It's just been a crazy night."

"Okay, well I'm on my way I'll be there in about ten minutes, why don't you go back inside and wait for me." Suggested Quentin, after Felicity had told him where she was.

"Will do call me when you get here." Said Felicity, before hanging up the phone.

Turning to head back inside she saw that the alley was now empty, the employee whom had previously been there having gone back inside.

Quickening her pace, she hurried to the door, not wanting to be outside alone.

She had just reached the door when she felt something heavy collide against the back of her head, the last thing she saw before losing conscience was the ground rushing up to meet her and then darkness.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Arrow and all of its amazing characters etc. do not belong to me, I'm simply the puppet master who moves them in another direction. ;)**

**A/N: This story takes place shortly after the season 2 finale.**

**A Love Like This**

**Chapter Four**

Quentin had been lying on his couch, watching T.V. when he received the phone call.

Five minutes later he was on his way out the door and on his way to the club Felicity had told him she was at.

Knowing that tonight was the first night in a long time that Felicity had gone out, with her friends he knew she had been nervous, but had seemed excited when he had texted her earlier in the evening.

He wondered what could've happened between then and now, she had sounded a bit upset over the phone.

Arriving at the club he parked in the street out front and sent a quick text to Felicity, letting her know he had arrived.

He sat patiently in the car for a few minutes, watching all sorts of people coming in and out of the club, keeping an eye out for her.

He had been there for about ten minutes with no word from Felicity, he tried calling her on her cell, but there was no answer, another five minutes and he was out of his car and heading toward the clubs entrance.

Walking toward the entrance he ignored the crowd of people and headed straight to the door, pulling his badge out and waving it at the bouncer, who let him in.

Taking a quick scan of the large room he saw no sign of Felicity, so he started where he was, working his way around the room, stopping every now and then to describe Felicity to someone and ask if they had seen her.

He had nearly completed a circuit around the room when a bouncer, standing in a corner observing, overheard him questioning one of the bartenders.

"Hey man," he said, walking toward Quentin, "That blonde girl you're looking for, not sure if it's her or not but I did see a blonde girl out in the alleyway when I was taking my break, she was on her phone."

"How long ago was this?" asked Quentin.

"About half an hour ago."  
The bouncer, who introduced himself as Miguel, led Quentin to an exit which lead into the alleyway.

Pushing open the door they walked out, looking for Felicity, motioning toward the dumpster near the back of the alley Miguel quietly told Quentin, "the dumpster is usually back against the wall, but it looks like someone moved it forward."

Quentin reached for his gun, now even more worried, before realizing that he had left it at home.

Motioning for Miguel to follow him, they quietly headed to the dumpster, as they approached they saw a foot poking out from behind it.

Leaving all caution behind Quentin rushed toward the dumpster, shoving it forward a little to reach what was behind.

There thrown carelessly behind the dumpster was Felicity.

Pulling out his cellphone he quickly dialed the station, then putting the phone between his ear and shoulder he turned back to carefully assess Felicity's injuries.

He gently rolled her over onto her back, wincing as he saw the gash on her forehead, blood mixing with gravel from where she must've hit the ground.

"This is Dispatch, go ahead."

"Dispatch this is Delta-Charlie 52 requesting an ambulance at…" Pausing, he turned to Miguel, who had knelt next to him, asking him for the address, which he then relayed to dispatch.

"Ambulance is on its way ETA six minutes."

"Thanks," said Quentin before disconnecting and turning back to Felicity.

Trying not to move her, he gently pushed the strands of blonde hair back from her face, his fist clenching as he saw the bruises on her face.

Turning to Miguel, he asked, with clenched teeth, "When you were out here, earlier, did you see anyone else besides her?"

"No, I'm sorry," he said, "I should've stayed out here when I noticed she was alone, I just- I'm so sorry."

Lance just shook his head, "Are there any cameras out here?'

"Yes."

"Can you make sure the officers get copies of that footage when they arrive?"

"Of course," said Miguel, standing up to go inside and retrieve them, "anything I can do to help." He said, realizing that he should also inform his boss as to what had happened.

"I'll be right back."

Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket he pushed it against the gash on her forehead, truing to staunch the flow of blood.

It wasn't long before the ambulance pulled up to the entrance of the alleyway, a patrol car following shortly behind.

The paramedics quickly assessed Felicity before gently placing her on a gurney and moving her to the ambulance.

"She'll be fine," One of the paramedics assured Lance, seeing the worried look on his face as they moved Felicity, "She'll need some stitches and she'll have a nasty headache and concussion when she wakes up, did you want to ride with her?"

Torn between going with Felicity and making sure she was okay, and staying here to make sure whoever had hurt her was caught, he compromised, telling them that he would meet them at the hospital later on.

Pulling out his phone, he called Sara.

"Hello."

"Sara, honey, how are you?"

"I'm good Dad, what's up?"

"I need you to do me a favor."

"Of course Dad, anything."

"Felicity was attacked outside of a club tonight an-"

"What, is she okay? What happened?"

"She's okay, or she will be, she's on her way to the hospital right now, can you meet the ambulance at the hospital, I would've gone with her, but I want to make sure we catch whoever did this."

"I'm on my way right now." Said Sara already collecting her stuff.

"Good, good, I'll meet you there as soon as I can."

"Okay Dad, I'll see you later."

.

.

.

.

It was a couple of hours before Quentin was able to make it to the hospital, he had stayed behind at the club to see if he could be of any help to the officers who had arrived, together they had watched the surveillance tapes and questioned several people, unfortunately whoever had robbed and hurt Felicity had kept their back to the camera and they had not yet been able to track him down, although when Quentin had left the officers were still working on it.

Parking his car in the hospital parking lot, he hurried inside heading to the ER where Sara had informed him they were still at.

Stopping at the nurse's station they pointed him toward a curtained off room near the back.

"Hey Dad," Sara greeted him as he came in to stand next to her.

"Where's Felicity?" He asked, worried, looking around and not seeing her.

"She's fine Dad, they just finished stitching her up and she had to go to the restroom."

"How is she?"

"_She_ is perfectly fine." Said a voice from behind him.

"Felicity, how are you feeling?" asked Quentin, gently pushing back her hair, to take a look at the nasty gash on her forehead that had required stitches.

"I'm fine." She said, with a soft smile.

Sara, still standing in the room, was wondering when Felicity and her Father had become so close, not having missed the panic and worry in his voice when he called her earlier, and now his gentleness in making sure that Felicity was alright.

Clearing her throat to make her presence known she walked over to join them, "not totally fine, the doctor said she has a concussion, so she will need someone to keep an eye on her, at least for tonight."

"Alright, do you need to take care of any paperwork, or are you free to go?" Quentin asked Felicity.

"No, the doctor just finished, I do have a prescription for some pain medicine I need to take care of."

"Okay, Sara," he said turning to his daughter, "Do you mind taking care of picking up the medicine and then dropping it off at the house."  
"You mean, my house?" asked Felicity.

"You think I'm going to leave you alone, with a concussion? You can stay over at my place tonight that way I can keep an eye on you."

Sara just raised an eyebrow and then silently left to run her errand.


End file.
